Colorado graduate transfer safety Mikial Onu has seen an explosive beginning to the 2019 season, which will serve as his lone year in a Colorado uniform.
In the last 20 years, there have been six Buffaloes players to eclipse five interceptions of more in a season while since 2008, only two other Colorado players (Greg Henderson in 2013 and Tedric Thompson in 2016) have recorded four-plus picks in a season.
Thompson sat on five picks for the season heading into the regular season finale at Folsom Field vs. Utah on Nov. 26, 2016 — a game with Pac-12 South title implications, and recorded two INTs in the game plus four tackles and another four PBUs.
Henderson had four in 2013 while Thompson's seven during The Rise tied a Colorado program record.
Onu left last Saturday's game vs. Arizona shortly before halftime with what was later identified as a "torso injury" and although he missed a significant portion of the second half, he did play late in the fourth quarter.
The fact that Onu returned in the game is encouraging, and even though he's likely not focusing on his interception total, if he were to record one more, he'd become tied for the second-most INTs recorded by a Colorado player in the last 25 seasons.
Colorado's INTs leaders during that time are listed below.